SYDNEY: Alternative menswear brand Material Boy has wooed one of the world's most influential High Street retailers.
The Sydney-based label has been commissioned to create a capsule spring/summer 2008 collection for UK retail giant Topshop.
The 'Material Boy for Topman' range, which will make its worldwide debut as part of the company's Lens project in February 2008, will sit alongside past successes Neue, Carolyn Massey and Dexter Wong.
Material Boy founder and designer Mic Eaton said the collaboration would provide him with an unrivalled marketing opportunity.
"It validates my work and tells me it has been accepted on an international scale," he said. "The UK is tough, dominated by big High Street retailers and this partnership will expose us to the world."
Eaton said his androgynous spring/summer 2007/08 collection, dubbed 'A Celebration of Your Inner Gay', had impressed the design director of Topman in London and significantly bolstered his wholesale accounts in the northern hemisphere.
Accordingly, the designer is set to unveil his own retail strategy in February with a concept store opening planned for Darlinghurst, Sydney. Melbourne and Tokyo are expected to follow in 2009 and 2010.